Dishonorable Mention I and II

2019, I: Plaster, plywood, acrylic paint, 7’ high x 4′ wide x 4’ deep

II: plaster, plywood, acrylic paint, rope 2.5′ high x 3.5′ wide x .5” deep

DMI names the birth of my father in Minidoka—an American concentration camp where Seattle’s Japanese American community was incarcerated for 3½ years during World War II. The forms are a nod to Japanese housewares as well as to her family’s business: a trophy shop. It is also a reminder that the U.S. continues to traumatize immigrant families and place children behind chain-link fences to live in fetid conditions.

The plaque on DMII commemorates the back-breaking and dangerous work of the Japanese immigrants and their descendants, who cleared the land and made Bellevue suitable for farming and homes. After decades of anti-Japanese agitation, led by Eastside businessman Miller Freeman and others, Executive Order 9066 authorized the mass incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans, including the 60 families who farmed Bellevue. The Freeman family was amongst the biggest beneficiaries of the appropriation of these farms. Today, the same family, headed by property developer Kemper Freeman Jr., remains a powerful force in Bellevue. This commemorative plaque is a reminder that America’s racial policies have always had many economic motives and beneficiaries.